Mysterious mechanism for cracking the first massage

Despite the widespread popularity of massages around the world, surprisingly, the researchers knew little about their effects on muscles. Previous studies only tried to prove that the friction in place could relieve the pain, but no one could figure out why. Although not entirely skeptical, the lack of evidence makes many physicians lack confidence in this approach.

As one of these doctors, Mark Tarnopolsky was a neuro-metabolism researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. His hamstrings were seriously injured in a water-skiing accident four years ago. Massage therapy is part of their rehabilitation and is effective in reducing pain. So he decided to follow the mechanism behind how he felt so good. He said: "I think there is a physiological basis here. And as a cell scientist, my interest lies in its cellular basis."

So Tarnopolsky and his colleagues, including his rehabilitation program coordinators, recruited 11 young men who were willing to train in the name of science. In this study, when subjects performed strenuous exercise on a treadmill, each person randomly selected one leg to receive a massage. Before the massage, 10 minutes and two and a half hours after the end of the massage, their two legs All tested.

The test results show that massage can prompt the body to send signals to the muscle cells to reduce the inflammatory response. This signal can also improve the ability of muscle cells to manufacture new mitochondria as an “engine”, which can convert the nutrition of cells into energy.

The researchers found that the legs that are massaged are 30% more PGC-1alPHa than the other leg, a gene that helps muscle cells build mitochondria. At the same time, the NFkB of this leg is only 1/3 of the other leg, and this gene is able to turn on the inflammation-related genes.

The study, published online in the February 1 issue of the American Journal of Science-Transformation Medicine, showed that massage suppresses inflammation after exercise and promotes faster recovery. Tarnopolsky said: "Basically, you can have both fish and bear's paw." Researchers say that since mitochondria are very important for energy, massage therapy may help athletes recover from muscle damage, improve musculoskeletal problems and chronic inflammation. The healing process of the patient.

Tarnopolsky also stressed that the study did not find relevant evidence that massage can remove lactic acid, a long-term by-product of muscle soreness, or waste from tired muscles.

ThomasBest, a sports medicine expert at Ohio State University in Columbus, pointed out: "This is probably the best study I have ever seen for the biological basis of focused massage therapy." He believes that repeating this experiment will be difficult because there are no two massages. It is exactly the same, but despite this, the result is still "obscuring."

Today, Tarnopolsky has become a convert. "There is no doubt that I will visit more masseurs in the future."